Sam's Quik Shop
Type: Store
1605 Erwin Rd
Durham, North Carolina, 27705-4619
United States
(919) 286-4110 | map
samsquikshop.com
Notes:
Formerly The Blue Light Restaurant.
Added by BeerAdvocate
View: Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 160 | Reviews: 113
Reviews by Strix:
More User Reviews:
4.34/5 rDev -3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.25 | selection: 5
The wife and I drove to Duke to check out the Nasher Museum of Art, and of course I had to stop at Sam’s Quik first (it is right across from campus anyways).
The store doesn’t look much, just a worn-out bottle shop in a strip mall, but they sure do have the goodies! A ton of North Carolina beers, European rarities, vintage Rodenbach, Omnipollo bottles, Big Bad Baptist… maybe a little confusing to navigate, but the employees are somewhat friendly.
They sold me a Prairie Pirate Bomb that someone had reserved and never picked up!
Also beer on tap for growler fills, mostly from North Carolina.
606 characters
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.25 | selection: 5
The wife and I drove to Duke to check out the Nasher Museum of Art, and of course I had to stop at Sam’s Quik first (it is right across from campus anyways).
The store doesn’t look much, just a worn-out bottle shop in a strip mall, but they sure do have the goodies! A ton of North Carolina beers, European rarities, vintage Rodenbach, Omnipollo bottles, Big Bad Baptist… maybe a little confusing to navigate, but the employees are somewhat friendly.
They sold me a Prairie Pirate Bomb that someone had reserved and never picked up!
Also beer on tap for growler fills, mostly from North Carolina.
606 characters
4.48/5 rDev -0.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
Before anything else, their selection and social media presence are awesome. They do a great job of alerting "new in stock" items, specials, etc., and get a great selection of things.
The one thing holding them back is the vibe... take your typical snobby, arrogant, barista-wannabe-artist, crank it up a few notches and that describes a good chunk of the staff. It pains them when you ask questions... exasperated sighs and eye-rolls if you need anything other than to be rung up for a sale... and to be fair, it's not all of the staff, but it is about half.
Even with that said, they get everything in stock and are pretty conveniently located... just could do with less attitude.
686 characters
vibe: 3 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
Before anything else, their selection and social media presence are awesome. They do a great job of alerting "new in stock" items, specials, etc., and get a great selection of things.
The one thing holding them back is the vibe... take your typical snobby, arrogant, barista-wannabe-artist, crank it up a few notches and that describes a good chunk of the staff. It pains them when you ask questions... exasperated sighs and eye-rolls if you need anything other than to be rung up for a sale... and to be fair, it's not all of the staff, but it is about half.
Even with that said, they get everything in stock and are pretty conveniently located... just could do with less attitude.
686 characters
4.47/5 rDev -0.9%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5
i found this place on beer finder while looking for a local beer while in NC. The place is very easy to find has great local and hard to find beers. I will say they sell out of the hot new stuff quick, I was able to make a good trade with the owner prices are really good. This is a must stop if you are in the area.
316 characters
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5
i found this place on beer finder while looking for a local beer while in NC. The place is very easy to find has great local and hard to find beers. I will say they sell out of the hot new stuff quick, I was able to make a good trade with the owner prices are really good. This is a must stop if you are in the area.
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4.54/5 rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
Sam's looks like a rundown place, but don't let the appearances be deceiving. Sam's has the best inventory in the area and they usually are the first place to have items in stock including hard to find beers.
208 characters
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
Sam's looks like a rundown place, but don't let the appearances be deceiving. Sam's has the best inventory in the area and they usually are the first place to have items in stock including hard to find beers.
208 characters
4.44/5 rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
4.7/5 rDev +4.2%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 5
Great selection and well-curated draft list.
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vibe: 4.25 | quality: 5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 5
Great selection and well-curated draft list.
44 characters
4.61/5 rDev +2.2%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
4.75/5 rDev +5.3%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4.75
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4.75
4.76/5 rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.75
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.75
4.64/5 rDev +2.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
If a beer is available in NC, this place is going to have it. Their inventory is amazing. The place is basically a dive, but the amount of bottles/cans that they have jammed in there is impressive. The atmosphere and customer service is a notch below their other location, but that isn't a slight on them by any means.
318 characters
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
If a beer is available in NC, this place is going to have it. Their inventory is amazing. The place is basically a dive, but the amount of bottles/cans that they have jammed in there is impressive. The atmosphere and customer service is a notch below their other location, but that isn't a slight on them by any means.
318 characters
5/5 rDev +10.9%
It's Sam's and they are definitely one of the best beer spots in NC and possibly the US.
89 characters
It's Sam's and they are definitely one of the best beer spots in NC and possibly the US.
89 characters
Sam's Quik Shop in Durham, NC
4.51
out of 5
based on 160 ratings.
Are you kidding me? My jaw just dropped when I walked into this place. Looks like a run-down gas station from the outside, but inside, hands-down the best beer selection I've seen in NC. I won't go into brands, as others already have, but basically every beer from the eastern US was here, as well as local NC specialties, and plenty of German, Belgian and other foreign beers. They are also cool with you breaking six-packs. As the guy at the counter chuckled, I basically made a 30-dollar six pack, with legendary stuff I've never seen in person, but have heard of. Definitely 5-star selection here.
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